Wind to thy Sails
by siltrana
Summary: A few snippets of Gibbs building his boat. I do not own anything from NCIS or make money off the show.
1. Chapter 1

**The Boat**

**Chapter one: Beginnings**

**Despite scraping the last boat for fire wood Jethro Gibbs had no doubts that he would eventually find a replacement project, and he had. It had been a painfully slow find, but it had been found in the form of the plans for a sexy little ketch rig. He had been at a wooden boat show. There had been all kinds of people at the show: boat owners and enthusiast, boat schools showing off their apprentice's skills, carpenters, riggers, sail makers, and the just plain curios. **

**Wandering threw the lanes of people selling their wares he stopped the stall of a grizzled old boat builder. Lifting the collar of his windbreaker against the chill of the Atlantic winds he begins to sort through the odds and ends of the table. This would be the last would be the last show before winter set in and he planed on making the most of it.**

**They chatted as Gibbs inspected the tools of the old mans trade all the while eyeing the tubes that held the plans of various boat he had built. The quality was high the boat builder had been at this many years and knew his tools. There more then a few that he wanted, but he needed to be patient. One just does not rush a deal. **

**Casually he asked about the rolled up plans that were off too one side. Looking at Gibbs the man questioned him on the purpose of the vessel. How far he would travel with it? How many would he be sailing with and the like? Picking the three that he though most fit the answers his client gave he laid them out on the table for him too compare. Gibbs did not like the lines on the first, and the third he felt that if he was on his own he might have trouble in a squall. The second was a little ketch that blended beauty with functionality, and completely prefect for his needs.**

**A few people had stopped to listen to the two men haggle. It is rare theses days to see a good deal being hashed out and people stopped to enjoy the sight. As always the barging ended up some were in the middle of what both men had wanted. Gibbs walked away with better quality tools then he had at home and a set of plans to guide them for a better price then what he would have gotten at a store. The boat builder had not done to shabby him self. A second hand place would not have given him any were near the price he wanted and he knew that they had gone to someone who would enjoy them.**

**After a hand shake had been given and money exchanged the old carpenter had admitted that he was heading south on the very same boat that he had just bought the plans for. The children were grown and gone, and his bones just did not stand up to the winter winds the way they use to. So, he was paring down and would sail south on the trade winds, when the sea allowed him the conditions to do so.**

**Smiling Gibbs headed back to the car arms full of new toys. Silently sending a pray to whatever saints and angles who guarded the sea to watch over the old man and his ketch.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Wind to thy Sail**

**Chapter Two: Of Moulds and Lofting**

**Looking at his haul Gibbs smirked. His seemingly haphazard lumber choices' had confused the heck out of the yard attends. White Oak for the keel strake and rudder posts, long leaf yellow Pine for the planks, Elm for the frames, and just enough Sitka Spruce to make the mast and spars these chossies of wood seemed all over the place to one not familiar with the art of building a wooden boat. What had thrown them for a complete loop however was his request for the cheapest two by sixes they had as well as a large board of whitewashed plywood. **

**The employee kept their loco comments to them self's, the grey haired man had always been a great costumer and he was now dropping a lot of money in a single shop. How ever strange his request had been the store was happy to comply. It had taken several trips to get everything back to the house but it had been done. The rough unfinished planks to the backyard placed in order of need. The two by sixes and plywood went to the basement. His smirk widened to a grin if the yard attends and cashier were confused his team and friends would be even more so when the boat was out of the basement and in the water. **

**Placing the plywood on the floor he began to pain tackily mark in lines to match what was on his blueprints. If he got it wrong here it would affect the entire stauncher of the boat. Possibly making the boat unable to maintain enough of a seal to even float, so the process was slow going. Not that boat building was a swift process the term the devil is in the details must have been thought up just for boat builders.**

**Gibbs stood up his back cracking in protest. The guide line were finely done but, it was far to late to begin the second half of the lofting stage, so he claimed the stairs, and headed for the shower hoping that the hot water would work out some of the knots in his back. After he collapsed into bed and dreamt of sun drenched days and billowing sails.**

**Cutting the two by sixes to form the mould that he would build his ketch around was not really a next step, but rather an extension of the first step. His fingers itched in anticipation as he picked up the first plank. Finely he would be able to do what felt like real work. Carefully he marked off were each cut needed to be. Then grabbing the saw he smiled at the sound of wood being cut.**

**It took a week to complete and if you told the unaware that this thing before them would be a boat they would slow move away while making soothing noises. The stricture looked more like the bare bones of some long ago monster, but in fact it was the mould that would give shape to his new pet project.**

**Gibbs had nicked himself screwing the mould together and had to bite back a curse before he stuck his finger in his mouth. Shannon had always hated when he swore, and to this day he could not let one out when he worked with wood seeing her glare every time. So, instead he took a page from the sail makers' lore and wiped a bit of the blood on to the wood. As, they would say it is not your project until you bleed on it, and so he did.**


	3. Chapter 3

Wind to thy Sails

Chapter Three: Memories

The ketch was coming along great, the planks had been put into place and it would soon be ready to be flipped. The last thing he needed to before that was putty over the screw heads and that was a time consuming part of the project. Not only did he have to putty and sand it flush with the hull but also he had to remember ware they were.

Looking at the small plastic tub of marine grade putty Gibbs' mind wandered back unwillingly to a time years ago. Kelly had always loved helping her father with the various house projects. From the time she could walk, she had been underfoot. As she grew older, she had been able help more. At first, it was just simple things like grabbing a jar of nails or finding the hammer that he was always leaving all over the place.

He never left the saws and knifes any were near her reach, and the electric tools that were too big to be kept up high were safely lock away. When the chemicals were out she had to sit on the stairs and watch. He hated being so stern with her, but he much rather see her pouting on the stairs, then finding her laying on the ground with some poison in her hand. Just too much was at stake to have a soft hand around the tools. Bed time and sweets now that was negotiable, but the rules of the shop were not.

As she grew the rules evolved to meet the needs of their little world. She graduated from shop gopher to shop sweep. Kelly had been so proud that day, running off to find her mother to tell her the good news. Shannon had barely kept her giggles under control as she watched her two busy bees putter around the work space. Another new thing happened that day: snacks and lemonade. When she felt they had been working hard enough she would come down with all kinds of treats, a pitcher of lemonade, and she would ask about the work they had done that day.

Her chest puffed out in pride when Kelly thought about the events of the day. When she headed how to help her dad after school that day, she was worried. He was standing there all stern with his arms fold across his chest. He beckoned her to come and stand in front of him. She did so trying to think of what she had done wrong. She knew better than to touch the tools when he was not around, and she had just gotten strait A's in school so it could not be that either. Kelly tried not to fidget as Gibbs walked around her and disappeared from her line of sight. She knew better then to slink away from her punishment. Boy was she surprised when she felt his strong arms wrap around her waist.

Looking down she just could not believe it. Daddy had gotten her a tool belt. Turning she looked up at him in wonder. 'Well he said now that you are shop help you need some place to keep your tools.' She wrapped her arms around his waist and gave him the biggest hug an eleven year old could muster. Helping him with house repairs had always been their special thing and now he had allowed her almost complete access. Daddy had always promised that he would teach her how to use the tools and epoxies that had been forbidden before and now he would keep that promise.

A few days latter a friend had asked him to repair his little row boat and they had wrestled it threw the garage and into the work space. Afterward Shannon had scolded him while massaging the strains and knots out of his back. He was not a young man any more and he had to be more careful she reminded him. But, it was for a friend he had huffed. She just rolled her eyes and continued massaging his back.

The next day Gibbs began showing Kelly how to use the epoxy for wood boats. He liked this one because; it was very bondable and was non toxic. It just took awhile to dry. Squatting down he began showing his daughter how to repair the fracture in the little boat, when he felt wet goop tracing its way down his cheek. He turned and looked at his little miscreant, who quickly hid her hands behind her back. Her eyes twinkling the whole time

Smirking he scooped out a large duple and planted it on the tip of her nose. War officially declared they tussled gooping each other; Kelly finding the tickle spots that he would never admit he had. Sitting on her fathers stomach she declared victory. Then she did something unexpected she flatted herself on top of him. An impish grin tugged at her lips as she worked her arms around his neck and leaned forward. Cheek to cheek Kelly whispered into his ear: I love you Daddy. He whispered back I love you too princess. It was one of the last times she would say it too him. Gibbs had gotten the call to Iraq that night and had to leave come morning. That was the tour that they had been killed.

Braking away from the memories, Gibbs walked over to his work bench, pored himself a liberal shot of whiskey, and downed it in a single gulp. Putting the tub of putty down he headed up stairs the drive to work on the boat lost for the night.


	4. Chapter 4

**Wind to thy Sails**

**Chapter Four: Buddies and Beer**

**Looking at smooth hull Gibbs realized he could do no more with the hull upside down, it was time to flip it. None of the many ways to flip a boat could be done by one person, so it was time to press people into seurvouse. The team would not be that hard. He would just call DiNozzo and demand that he and the rest of the team show up. Being well trained in his ways they would be there. As for Abby it would be no harder then asking her when she was in her lab.**

**Now Duck and Tobias would be a different story. The corner he would soften up with a bottle of cognac before he made his pitch. He was mostly certain that the ME would be agreeable. It was also not a bad idea to have someone with medical training around. Fornell posed an entirely different sort of problem. They were way too much alike to have a bribe of bourbon to suffice. There had to be more and he suspected it would come in the form of a promise to play nice next time he came to steal a case.**

**A week came and went before he had both Ducky and Tobias on board with the idea. As he had suspected there was a promise to be less of a jackass then he usually was as well as two rather expensive bottles of liquor. He had gone down to Abbeys lab that Friday and quickly talked her into coming. He did not tell her why though lest her Timmy came down to help her posses evidence. The goth was completely loyal to him, but she just could not keep a secret from McGee. He held a lot more sway over her then either of them realized.**

**The beer was in the fridge and pizza on its way the time to get his team over here was now. So smirking he speed dialed Tony and demanded that he to be here in an hour. Yes he knew that it was an hour and a half drive for Tony but he was needed by five, and call the rest of the team while you're at it he demanded.**

**Gibbs was imprested even with the short notice they were at the house about five. His team had been surprised by the extra people especially Fornell, but they managed to keep their whining about lost plans to a minimum. They followed him down stares and groaned when they found out their task. At fist they had thought their boss need help with some super secret plan, but it seemed all they were needed for was manual labor. **

**Seeing DiNozzo and McGee get head slapped at the same time Ziva wisely kept her mouth shut, as she watched her boss organize the press gang around the boat. Fornell, DiNozzo, and McGee would take the brunt of the roll while Ducky, Abby, and Ziva would push up the boat. He would do the direction as well as jump help the boys as needed. When there was no danger of it coming back on them they would come round and help ease the ketch down.**

**It was slow work to turn the hull of a boat with out its frames. Until they were in the hull would remain fragile and must be handled with care. The whole thing took just over an hour and they were hurting. Herding them up stairs Gibbs brought out the cold beer and the pizza. Rolling the boat is a milestone in its constion and should be treated as such. So the buddies who had been drafted into service were fed and watered so to speck.**

**The get together lasted well into the night. It was a Friday they could sleep in the next day and they were among friends. The favored topic of discussion was how one got a boat out of a basement. The only thing that Gibbs would offer to the spectlation was the soultion was magic.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Wind to thy Sails**

**Chapter Five: It is Magic**

**Gibbs was out right smiling not just smirking, but a face-splitting grin that would have freaked out his team if they had seen it. As it was the plan he was about to set in motion would drive them nuts for years to come. It was time to get the ketch out of the basement and into the back yard. He needed the space to work on the cabin and so it was moving day.**

**The house had been originally built by Shannon's Uncle Rick. He in his prime was an excellent magician and wanted a house to reflect that profession. While it was no were near as confusing as the famed Magic Tower in Hollywood it did have a few quirks. One of those quirks was the basement. Everyone complained that it was drafty not thought much of it afterwards. Even McGee and his double degree holding computerized brain had not thought to ask the question how does a basement become drafty. It is underground and therefore immune to things like that.**

**Gibbs' grin if any thing became wider as he thought of the houses history: one of the legendary artisans who designed and built the tricks of a magicians' trade owed Rick a major favor and this house was the result. They had planed every thing out very carefully. Going through many drafts before settling on and building this house.**

**The subsequent ex's did not get the house simply because Rick was still listed as one of the owners and he refused to have his beloved nieces house be sold to vultures. There was a clause in the contract; he would be listed as a part owner until they had done a feat of magic. Gibbs hoped that this would suffice.**

**When he went heard, the doorbell ring Gibbs went to meet his guests. He hired for the afternoon some stagehands from a local theater company, and they were familiar with the art of illusion. The contraption that bridged the basement and the yard was nothing short of extraordinary. It took years of studying the gears and pulleys to completely understand how it worked. The whole thing was reminiscent of the underground network used in the Coliseum to lift the gladiators from the structures bowls up to the arena itself. **

**Directing the team of stagehands as he would his own team the man got the Kelly loaded onto the trailer and on too the platform. Closing the false wall that hid the elevator the ketch that he had been building for the past few years disappeared from view and reappeared in the daylight of his yard. Like always the pulley system groaned and strained in protest to it's' work, but as always it did its' job. The man who had designed it was a master of his craft and put his heart and soul into the design.**

**After giving the men and women who had helped him their checks, Gibbs drove to Cedars Grove Nursing home. To tell an old friend the tale of the vanishing boat. **


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six: Fair Winds, and Fallowing Seas**

**Today was the day, and it was perfect for it. The breeze was fair and had the white horses dancing on wave tops. The cloudless sapphire sky and glittering ocean met on the horizon. The horizon itself called saying come find what is beyond me. The noisy call of gulls and the briny, salty smell only added to the excitement he felt. Very few people would have been unsurprised by Jethro Gibbs' behavior this day. Only those how knew him well would take his quick step and wide grin as a matter of course.**

**Looking at the gleaming ketch, he swelled slightly with pride. What had started with a chance meeting years ago resulted in a rather sexy looking little boat bobbing and tugging at her mooring lines. She was a result of long nights and hard work. First in the basement, then latter on there was a harrowing week of baling her as she sat in the slip waiting for her sails to come. As with all wooden boats, she absorbed and that helped keep her watertight. For a new boat or one that had not been in the water for some time the dry wood did not have a tight seal between her planks and that meant, careful watching. Kelly had been no different, and required lots of bailing as the wooden planks swelled and meshed together.**

**What a beautiful sight the canvas sails had been when they had been delivered. Crisp sharp white they were. He could not bring himself to use the new stuff like Kevlar or Dacron, so he had sought out another old salt, some who reminded him of the old boat builder that had started this journey, but this ones trade was different. She was a sail maker, not only that she was one of the best of her trade. More then that she knew the old ways and taught him how to patch the sails she made for him with a palm and needle. He was one of the few who wanted canvas anymore and the wizened old women had made darn sure he knew how to take care of the sails she lovingly made.**

**Despite being well into her 80's the women could have easily put any one of his team to the grown. She was old enough that the sail maker that she had apprenticed to as a young girl had made sails for the great fishing schooners of old. She herself had remembered a few of those diehard old timers who still sail by the wind coming round for sails to their privet boats. He sat quietly and took it all in as she showed him how to make the stitches of a patch. He loved Ducky and his rambling tales of days gone by, but the history in her stories had a curtain appeal to them. **

**He would never admit it, but learning how to patch the sails was something he really enjoyed. If asked about it he gruffly tells them it was useful, but while he was a carpenter at heart he enjoyed the new skill he had.**

**Shaking off the memories Gibbs stepped onto his ketch. Raising the jib, he smiled, as Kelly demanded to unleashed from her confines. He was all too happy to oblige her, and cast off the mooring lines. Gliding away from the key Gibbs grin broadened to a smile. When they had left, the marina behind, he raised the main sail. The wooden boat danced forward like the sprite she was named for and began to run with the waves.**

**It was a breath taking sight the ketch leaning into her work and the old man guiding through her paces. They were oblivious to the pictures and looks of awe they drew around them. It was only them. Gibbs felt alive. Even his car could not compete with what he was doing now. So much of helming a boat was feel that it was just not comparable. **

**A few sea birds let out a cawing challenge and raced him for the edge of the horizon. They responded by taking up the challenge. He could not keep the hitch out of his breath as the pod of dolphins who were drafting along side of him jumped reviling themselves. , drops of water trailing behind them like sparkling diamonds.**

**Gibbs deciding to see what she could do and brought the boat into a close haul. Getting the boat as close to the wind as he could Gibbs smiled. True to the old mans word she came into her own. This is were she love being, at odds with the wind surging forward at a speed that surprised him. While she was a sprite in a fallowing sea, Kelly was a witch in a headwind, proving a match for the breeze that challenged her.**

**Looking at the low sun he realized with regret they had too head home. He had not realized that it was so late until then. Therefore, with a sad heart he brought her round and made a course for the marina. It was near dusk when they made it back. Despite how tired he was Gibbs as any good sailor made sure every thing was stowed and the lines were properly coiled. Smiling he headed for the near by pub. The staff there knew him and expected a full report of the first sail, and heck it was Saturday he could sleep onboard for the night.**

**Opening the door, a few of the old ones who had watched him fuss over his boat called him over to tell them how she sailed. It was an importuned time in a boats life that first time out. Gibbs calling a waitress over he was all too happy to regale them.**


End file.
